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Welcome to our first episode of the Starry Reads Podcast, on Nettle and Bone, T. Kingfisher's super-popular, 2023 Hugo-winning fantasy novel.
T. Kingfisher is an American writer, artist, illustrator and webcomic creator. A prolific writer of fiction for both adults and children (under her actual name of Ursula Vernon) she has won several awards including the Hugo for Nettle & Bone, as well as award for her children's fiction and her graphic novel. So clearly a woman of many talents!
Nettle and Bone was a 2022 Nebula nominee, it did not win, Babel won that year, but it did win the 2023 Hugo award, so we know that readers really loved this book.
We found the world building in this book to be very well done with a fairytale feel and a modern feel. The author uses simple names and a youthful feel to produce a novel that deals with serious themes and impossible situations. It has a light feel with real gravity underneath!
We loved the magical system, where there is a cost to the magic. We also loved the light-yet-macabre elements that showed up over and over, starting with Bonedog, then the Goblin Market, the Tooth Dancer, the Curse Child, the Thief Wheel, and so much more!
We talk about the interaction of blessings and curses, the feminine-based themes of the dangers of pregnancy and childbirth and women's power, leadership, agency and sacrifice.
The poem The Goblin Market, by Christina Rossetti
Here are some of the books we mention:
Other T. Kingfisher titles:
- A Sorceress Comes to Call
- A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking
- What Moves the Dead, which is a House of Usher retelling
And our recommendations where to go next after Nettle and Bone:
- Uprooted, Naomi Novik
- Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik
- Delia recommends: the first season of Once Upon a Time, a show based on characters from fairy tales set in modern times
- Deanna recommends: The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo, and the rest of the "Singing Hills" series–This has a fairytale feel plus a feminist edge, in a different style of setting.
- Deanna recommends: The Goblin Emperor and the Cemeteries of Amalo series, which starts with The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison–these books are delightful. The Goblin Emperor came out when everything in Fantasy was Grimdark, and it is a bright, heartfelt tale instead and it was such a relief. And then the Cemeteries series is also great.
- Natalie recommends: The Black Tongue Thief while it feels more "adult", it has many of the same elements, such as a journey, a rag-tag group on a mission, humour, and lots of magic.
Our next episode will be over the cozy horror-fantasy novel, Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell.
Find all our recommendations on https://bookshop.org/lists/recommended-by-starry-reads
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Happy reading!
